SES units get overdue operational funding

Several unit controllers confirmed the funding had come through on Friday, December 1.

The payment comes after ACM revealed on November 26 the annual subsidy, which was due at the start of August, still hadn't been paid.

Unit controllers said the delay in operational funding had occurred because VICSES head office was still negotiating its annual budget with the government. Neither VICSES nor the government would explain why the units had been left unfunded for so long, but said they would all receive the payment by December 1.

The units rely on the annual funding - which was worth $75 million in 2022-23 - to maintain facilities and life-saving rescue equipment. One unit controller said it was good to "finally" get the money, but otherwise "nothing had changed".

"The whole thing's a sh**show," he said.

South-west VICSES units were completely overlooked for annual grant funding, despite a litany of issues with facilities and equipment across the region.

The recently published VICSES annual report for 2022-23 showed south-west units performed the second most road crash rescues of the eight Victorian regions. Several south-west unit commanders have raised serious and repeated concerns about the ability of some units to perform road crash rescues from 2024 because of the steady loss of trained volunteers.

The annual report showed the service was 300 operational volunteers short of its target across the state, but had 13 per cent more paid operational staff than the target. Between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years the number of full-time paid staff grew by 34 per cent, from 157 to 210 people.

Despite the unprecedented growth in paid staff, volunteers have said administrative issues caused by "bureaucracy at VHO (the Melbourne head office)" were the source of much of the discontent within the volunteer units.

The annual report showed VICSES spent $106,456 for the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to consult on improving the organisation's culture.

"(The Commission was invited) to support VICSES to strengthen its prevention of and response to bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation to ensure VICSES is a safe, inclusive, and respectful place for all members to work and volunteer," the annual report said.